There are many potential benefits from regularly eating oily fish such as sardines. They contain protein to build and repair the body, fibre to support the digestive system, and omega-3 fatty acids for heart, skin and brain health. Then there are the vitamins A, B, D and E, as well as important minerals including calcium, magnesium and potassium, because we eat the bones. And don’t forget iodine for the thyroid, zinc for the immune system, and on it goes—more than we may find in a multivitamin pill.

Now, it may not be well-known, but vertebrates such as humans can’t make the long chain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish (DHA, EPA), that’s why they are called essential. We have to eat fish or other animals that contain them, who live on creatures lower down the food chain such as plankton, krill and calamari.¹

There is, however, a vegetable form of omega-3 called α-linolenic acid (ALA), which is also a long chain fatty acid (flax, chia, walnut, canola), but its conversion in the body to the even longer EPA or DHA is very low, at somewhere between 1-10%.² This means that we have to eat a lot of flax to get any clinical benefit; the good side is that we get a lot of fibre with it for our gut health and won’t suffer from constipation.

Oily fish, when eaten two or three times per week is known to be protective against modern diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes,¹ but most people take fish-oil supplements in an effort to approximate this. I certainly recommend fish or krill oil for people coming to the clinic who won’t go to the trouble of eating whole fish, but is taking just this one powerful supplement enough?

In fact, when used clinically, fish oil has been shown to be effective in treating cardiac arrhythmias while also improving endothelial function in blood vessels through the stimulation of vasodilating nitric oxide. This contributes not only to a lowering of blood pressure, but also a regression in arterial plaque. In addition, omega-3 oils have anti-aggregation activity as well as anti-adhesion properties concerning platelets, reducing a tendency to form clots. This is a powerful combination for treating heart disease in addition to the general anti-inflammatory activity.³

The conventional medical approach of a pill-for-life has not been found to be anywhere as near as effective in reducing the recurrence of cardiac events or complications, as has a wholefood diet where there is an emphasis on fibre, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and omega-3 oils from fish.⁴ A patient on these medicines should also know that statins favour omega-6 absorption and inhibit omega-3 fatty acids, while also unfortunately increasing insulin resistance, which is a precursor of diabetes.⁵ And if that is not enough, omega-6 fatty acids are also associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer.⁶

The nervous system is another focus of omega-3 research, particularly neurological development and the treatment of mood disorders and dementia. This is because brain tissue is rich in DHA which is essential for healthy metabolism as well as the modulation of key biophysical functions such as membrane composition, fluidity, permeability and protein activity. While EPA and DHA are central mediators in inflammation and oxidation, they also participate in nerve repair, nerve growth and are crucial to adaptive plasticity. Furthermore,  they defend the nervous system and brain against normal changes due to aging and the development of dementia caused by oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and damage to DNA.⁷

A necessity to supply the brain with these essential fatty acids begins in the womb. DHA is critical for the development of the foetus, as well as the child in early infancy so the mother’s diet has an important part to play in the child’s development. Remember, if she lives on factory foods rich in omega-6 and trans fats then her milk is also rich in these oils because she can’t make omega-3 from factory fats.

A deficiency of EPA is also associated with substance abuse and aggression, but more generally, we know that omega-3 series oils are essential for nervous system signalling, the regulation of brain energy and neuro-protection. It follows that instead of looking for individual essential fatty acids to supplement when a patient is suffering from an addiction or psychiatric condition, we take the precautionary step of recommending that they eat plenty of oily fish, nuts and seeds.⁸

Finally, fish oils have been found to reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer, breast cancer, as well as osteoporosis, so they seem to be essential in preventing the development of several serious degenerative diseases all of which now appear to have an inflammatory cause aggressively stimulated by factory-foods. In the words of one group of more daring scientists, the predominance of omega-6 may in fact result in ‘a chronic state of sterile whole body inflammation.’⁹

This state is something you can’t fix with a statin, let alone correct a vitamin D deficiency, which can only be fixed with adequate exposure to sunlight or by the regular consumption of old-fashioned cod liver oil. Importantly, cod liver oil also contains vitamin A and omega-3 which both support vascular integrity. Interestingly, vitamin D receptors have been found on all cells of the body, indicating that cod liver oil is a tonic to all tissues.

Keep in mind that the Inuit ate a diet consisting mostly of oily fish and seal blubber, and were unbelievably healthy by comparison to today’s scientifically-nourished races fed ‘prudently’ on low-fat, low-cholesterol foods. Both the diets of the Cretan and Okinawan people were also rich in protective nutrients derived from oily fish (fresh, smoked, salted).

This article is an excerpt from the eBook Wholefoods And Common Medicinal Herbs.

Disclaimer: this article is intended for the purpose of general education only, and is not a substitute for diagnosis, treatment advice, or a prescription that is given in a consultation with a qualified physician.

References:

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2.         Anderson BM, Ma DWL. Are all n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids created equal? Lipids Health Dis 2009;8:33.

3.         Braun, Cohen. Herbs & Natural Supplements, An Evidence-based guide. Elsevier; 2005.

4.         de Lorgeril M, Salen P. Mediterranean diet in secondary prevention of CHD. Public Health Nutr 2011;14:2333–7.

5.         de Lorgeril M, Salen P, Defaye P, Rabaeus M. Recent findings on the health effects of omega-3 fatty acids and statins, and their interactions: do statins inhibit omega-3? BMC Med 2013;11:5.

6.         de Lorgeril M, Salen P. New insights into the health effects of dietary saturated and omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. BMC Med 2012;10:50.

7.         Dyall SC. Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and the brain: a review of the independent and shared effects of EPA, DPA and DHA. Front Aging Neurosci 2015;7:52.

8.         Liu JJ, Green P, John Mann J, Rapoport SI, Sublette ME. Pathways of polyunsaturated fatty acid utilization: implications for brain function in neuropsychiatric health and disease. Brain Res 2015;1597:220–46.

9.         Longo AB, Ward WE. PUFAs, Bone Mineral Density, and Fragility Fracture: Findings from Human Studies. Adv Nutr Bethesda Md 2016;7:299–312.